When it comes to buying banks, it looks as if Goldman Sachs might have lost its touch.

At least that what some private-equity players are saying after the enviable darling of Wall Street, which rode out the financial crisis virtually unscathed, has twice failed to snap up fallen banks, losing out to private-equity firms.

The latest came last week when the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. sold Florida’s BankUnited to an investor group that includes billionaire investor Wilbur Ross, the Carlyle Group and The Blackstone Group.

It was the second time that Goldman, which had joined with Toronto-Dominion Bank to bid on BankUnited, had lost out to a consortium of private-equity firms when vying for a bank. Earlier this year, Goldman bid for IndyMac Bancorp but lost out in that auction as well.

, Goldman late last year became a bank holding company in order to become eligible for $10 billion in federal rescue cash that the Treasury wanted the bank to accept in order to help restore investor faith in the banking system.

Given its new status, and conventional wisdom that the government would rather sell a thrift to another bank than a PE firm, Goldman would appear to be a shoo-in to win these auctions. Yet it’s coming up snake eyes.

An FDIC spokesman said the government considers only what offer will be the least costly to the insurance fund, and nothing else.

A Goldman spokesman declined comment.

According to a source, three teams made five final bids for BankUnited and its $12.8 billion in assets, with some groups making multiple offers. A J.C. Flowers & Co.-led group is believed to have been the other unsuccessful suitor.

Several sources said the Toronto-Dominion-Goldman bid for BankUnited came in well under the $900 million offer that ultimately won.

In March, a group of PE firms and hedge funds, including one run by former Goldman partner Steve Mnuchin, beat out Goldman to buy IndyMac.

A source close to that process said Goldman made an offer that did not conform with FDIC bidding guidelines, which at the time raised eyebrows among those involved in the auction.